Town staff worked long days and nights in support of our coastal neighborhoods during back-to-back storms on Jan. 10 and 13 that brought historic tides and flooding to many areas of town.
Scarborough’s coastal neighborhoods were particularly affected with more significant damages to both public infrastructure and personal property damage. Both storms required an “all hands on deck” response from the town’s emergency management team. Heavy flooding of sea and marsh water at Pine Point required the Fire Department, Sanitary District, and Public Works to pump over 1 million gallons of water. Additionally, “Higgins Beach appears to have taken the brunt of the storms’ wrath,” said Fire Chief Rich Kindelan. There was significant damage from flood waters to roads, a sanitary pump station, seawalls, and barriers. The full extent of private property damage is not yet fully appreciated.
An emergency management team continues to handle post-storm damage assessments and documentation to aid in potential FEMA assistance. The team includes members of Town Administration, Fire/EMS, Police, Public Works, the Sanitary district, and community partners. Scarborough has filed damage assessment documentation for the Jan. 10 storm, and the team is currently conducting public damage assessments throughout our community from Jan. 13. They also continue to collect photos of storm damages. These assessments will be used to ensure a disaster declaration will be initiated for Cumberland County.
Homeowners can report uninsured damages for public assistance directly through the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). Go to www.maine.gov/mema to access the Individual and Household form. This is not an application for assistance nor a guarantee of financial assistance. Submission of damage information will help the State of Maine best understand the extent of damage from the storm.
The Town of Scarborough is also asking residents to share photos from the Jan. 13 storm impacts to aid in our damage assessments. Photos will be used for Scarborough EMA and Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA) damage assessments to help tell our story to FEMA in order to secure a disaster declaration and potential disaster funds to assist the community with recovery. Please submit your own photos to us using this form: http://tinyurl.com/scarborough-storm-damage.
Natural disasters like the storms that occurred this January are a reminder of the vulnerability of our infrastructure and the fragility of being a coastal community. The response from our community underscores our resilience and serves as a reminder for being prepared when disaster strikes. Our Police and Fire Facebook pages are the most immediate source for real-time information that we put out to the community. Please refer to these accounts for alerts, preemptive road closures, and tips to ensure your safety.
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